WWII era Lifeboat compass by Hand & Sons of Philadelphia

A pair of ship’s copper & brass "Not Under Command" lights, by Eli Griffiths & Sons of Birmingham, circa 1935. 360˚ clear glass Fresnel lenses. with red filter inserts. Glass marked...

A Victorian framed print of "SCREW STEAM SHIP WATER BALLAST HOLDS & CARGO TRADER" by Day and Son, Lithographers to the Queen. From John Scott...

A Victorian framed print of "SHIPS OF WAR - Screw Gun Boat" by Day and Son, Lithographers to the Queen. Plate 84: The Modern System of Naval Architecture, Joh...

A WWII ship's bell from the Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Queen of Thanet, dated 1941. Pendant number J-30. Diameter: 27cm - 10 ½ inches. Height: 28 cm - 11 inches. HMS Queen of Thanet (J30), formerly HMS Melton, was a Racecourse-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy. She was built by William Hamilton & Company in Port Glasgow, Scotland. Melton was launched in March 1916 with the pennant number 898. During World War I she served with the Auxiliary Patrol. Post-war she was transferred to the Mine Clearance Service. Between the wars Melton was sold to Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Co in 1927. She was bought by The New Medway Steam Packet Company in 1929 and converted for excursion work on the River Medway and River Thames. She was renamed Queen of Thanet. For the next twelve years she could be found working from Sheerness and Southend. Regular excursions took her to Gravesend, Margate, Clacton and Dover as well as cross-channel voyages to Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk. In September 1939 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty for minesweeping duties once more and commissioned as HMS Queen of Thanet, pennant number J30. In May 1940 she took part in the Dunkirk evacuation rescuing 4,000 men in four trips. Of that number, 2,000 were transferred from the ex-LNER steamer Prague, after the latter had been damaged by near misses from shells and dive bombers off Gravelines. For Operation Overlord in June 1944 she was stationed at Selsey as the Mulberry Despatch Control Ship. After the war she was returned in 1946 to her owners to recommence excursion work around the Thames Estuary. In January 1949 she was sold to Red Funnel and transferred to Southampton. After refitting at Thorneycroft's yard at Northam she was commissioned in the spring as the company's second Solent Queen. For the next two years she operated excursions from Southampton in the summer. In June 1951 while slipped for survey and repair, she caught fire and was written off as a constructive loss. She was scrapped by Dover Industries Ltd at Dover Eastern Docks in 1951 Literature on HMS Queen of Thanet see: Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships...

Lifeboat binnacle by Negus of New York. Brass housing, mounted to a mahogany baseboard, dry compass card reads ES Ritchie Inc. Sliding front doors. Manufacturers badge mounted to front.

ABOUT A pair of heavy U.S. Navy Oak and steel dummy cartridges used as training rounds. Title and date of "1944" stamped on metal base. CREATOR U.S. Navy. DATE OF MANUFAC...

Traveler's pocket compass, Victorian-era turned brass, late 19th century England, rose on sixteen-twenty copperplate engraving paper complete with goniometric circle. Conservation s...

A visually striking smaller scale vintage WWII era maritime salvage ship's binnacle pedestal with compass by Sestrel Henry Browne & Son. circa 1940s The beautifully aged heavily patinated polished brass binnacle housing a high quality marine navigational instrument, having an enclosed brass bowl English Sestrel compass...